Is Kim Davis the right wing's vehicle for overturning marriage equality?

The right wing has been fulminating about marriage equality ever since the Supreme Court legalized it eight years ago. Opponents of the Obergefell decision have been buoyed by Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, stating bluntly that they believe that the ruling was wrongly decided, an open invitation to try the Court again.

The anti-LGBTQ legal group Liberty Counsel is happy to do just that. Its vehicle for doing so: the case involving Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was eventually jailed for contempt of court after refusing to provide a gay couple a marriage license back in 2015.

Last week, Davis was ordered to pay the couple, David Ermold and David Moore, $50,000 each after she failed to convince a court that she was protected from being personally liable because of her position. Davis has also alternately claimed that she was exercising her right to express her religious beliefs.

Davis has been on an endless losing streak ever since she undertook her crusade. When she refused to issue marriage licenses back in 2015, she cited “God’s authority” as her reason, which didn’t much impress the courts, including the Supreme Court, all of which refused to countenance her argument. She ended up spending five days in jail for contempt of court.

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